Character description

Appearance

In the original Rayman game, the Magician appears to be part of the same limbless species as Rayman. He bears all of the signature traits – lack of limbs, large nose and white gloves. He has long blonde hair that nearly reaches the ground, and his eyes are always covered by his long black top hat, which shines in blue and purple and has a gold star on the front. (He often retreats into this hat, and can be found hiding inside it in many levels.) He has also been seen wearing shirts of two colours – in the introduction sequence of the original Rayman, he wears a purple shirt with two blue buttons, but in the game itself, this is blue with golden buttons. The colour of his shoes – purple and orchid – remain the same, but with different stripe patterns. He is also noticeably shorter than Rayman is in the original Rayman, but in the educational games, he is approximately the same height as Betilla the Fairy. According to English with Rayman, the Magician has a cousin named Andrew.

In Rayman Origins, the Magician is no longer a member of Rayman's species – like several other characters, he has been redesigned to better fit the world established in the Rayman sequels. The Magician is now a grey-haired Teensie who wears a purple shirt and a black coat. He still has his signature, star-adorned top hat, and can still be found hiding inside it in various levels. The top hat, however, has been slightly redesigned, with a pink band surrounding the lower part and the star moved to the upper part, with some points unsticking (as the star doesn't form part of the top hat). It is later revealed that the Magician is actually bald, and his grey hair is just a wig attached to his top hat.

Personality

In the original Rayman game, the Magician seems perpetually happy and displays a flamboyantly positive attitude. Despite the havoc Mr Dark is wreaking across the world, the Magician remains buoyant and unconcerned. He also appears to be somewhat introverted, usually hiding inside his top hat, and only showing his face when doing business. This does not prevent him from socialising with the other inhabitants of the Glade of Dreams; in the educational spin-offs such as Rayman Junior, the Magician's friendship with Betilla the Fairy is made clear.

From the beginning of Rayman Origins, the Magician presents himself as an energetic and benevolent character. As the game continues, he begins to make sarcastic remarks with sinister undertones. At the end of the game, it is revealed that the Magician is a traitor who secretly admires Mr Dark, and has been manipulating the heroes in an attempt at world domination.

Career

In a scrapped scenario known from an unused script found in the files of Rayman Origins, the Magician started his career at a young age in the school of magic. This event could have taken place chronologically during the original Rayman game, when he was still benevolent. The other students bullied him during that time due to his poor skills in magic. While maintaining the nickname "Magician", his real name, Ales Mansay (meaning Salesman in pig latin), left more clear his main purpose in the games: provide assistance in exchange for monetary assets. Finally, tempted by the other students, the Magician turned away from Rayman to become a fan of the evil Mr Dark. This part of the plot didn't make it to the final game, save for the Magician eventually becoming a fan of Mr Dark. He also proved to be an expert engineer at the end of Rayman Origins, creating a gigantic robotic empire in the Moody Clouds.

Throughout the game, the Magician can be found hiding inside his top hat.

The Magician first appears in the introductory sequence of the original Rayman. Here he tells the story of how Mr Dark stole the Great Protoon and brought about the collapse of the valley's natural stability. He calls on Rayman to go and free the Electoons from the cages that hostile beings had imprisoned them in, as well as bring the Great Protoon back from the Candy Château. He is the only character to have a major speaking role in the game. The Magician's voice was re-recorded for the American localisation, possibly by a different actor; his voice in this version is deeper and more brash than the high-pitched voice in the original European release.

Rayman can come across the Magician's hat several times throughout the game. The Magician only emerges from it if Rayman has at least ten Tings; if not, he will clearly indicate with his hand that the hero will need them. If Rayman does have at least ten Tings, he automatically reaches out and drops them into the Magician's outstretched hand. The Magician then teleports Rayman to one of his bonus levels. In these secret areas, Rayman must collect all the Tings within the time limit. If he succeeds, he wins an extra life. Only a single life can be won in each bonus level. Subsequent victories in the same bonus levels are purely for fun, and also record the time taken by the player so that they can attempt to beat their records if they wish.

He is the guardian of harmony and well-being. He holds the book of knowledge and expertise. Since he is very smart, he always finds solutions and gives a helping hand to those in need. Throughout his journey, Rayman can count on his valuable advice to lead him to Mister Dark.

Instead of providing bonus areas, the Magician now helps Rayman to solve the many problems (spelling and mathematical problems for the young player) throughout the journey. When Rayman starts a level, the Magician gives him an overview of the specific tasks he needs to carry out in order to complete it. After that, his hat appears several times throughout the level. Whenever Rayman passes it, the Magician either asks a new question or reminds Rayman of the level's task. Each time Rayman reaches the end of the final stage of a level, the Magician appears and gives a different performance, such as dancing or rapping '90s style, while praising Rayman for his success.

In Rayman Origins, the Magician can still be found hiding inside his top hat, but now he gives the heroes advice rather than unlocking bonus levels.

The Magician will help you throughout your quest. He's always willing to trade you Electoons for Lums, which will help you unlock new worlds and maps. At your service, his magic hat will provide tips and tricks galore to help you survive.

The Magician makes his next appearance in the 2D platforming sequel, Rayman Origins. The Magician is first encountered at the beginning of the game: he is found inside his distinctive top hat, which is sitting on the ground outside the Snoring Tree. Each time one of the players jumps on the hat, the Magician offers a few words of advice. The hat appears in many places throughout the game, and the players can jump on it at any time for tips relevant to their current situation. However, there are some hints at his darker side; he makes sarcastic comments, and has little concern for the heroes, beyond using them as a source of Lums. Sometimes he even questions Rayman's position as a hero.

At the end of each level, he is seen holding a test tube which he uses to count the number of Lums collected by the players. In exchange for certain numbers of Lums, he gives the heroes Electoons, but if the players reach the top of the test tube, they receive a Lum Medal. The Magician displays great joy and excitement whenever the heroes bring him a large number of Lums. In these post-level screens, the Magician can be seen fully: he is revealed to be a Teensie rather than a member of Rayman's species, and his hair is now grey rather than blonde.

The last world of the game (apart from the Land of the Livid Dead) is the Moody Clouds, a flying mechanical steampunk city which has mysteriously appeared above the Glade of Dreams. When the heroes finally arrive, they find the Magician's magic hat waiting for them. However, instead of offering helpful advice as he usually does, the Magician frantically tells them that they are going the wrong way, warning them to turn back before it is too late. In spite of the Magician's warning, the heroes work their way through the Moody Clouds. Along the way, they find many Lums trapped in glass containers connected to machines; it seems that they are being used to power the Moody Clouds and its robotic denizens. Eventually the heroes reach the heart of the mystery, a level titled ‘the Reveal’. They step into the Moody Clouds headquarters, only to find the Magician working the controls of the diabolical machinery encountered throughout the level. Caught, the Magician spins round, gives the heroes a smile and rips the golden star off his hat. He then jumps onto his desk and poses while lightning flashes in the windows behind him. The walls are decorated with posters of a mysterious, shadowy figure with a hat and a cloak; one poster bears the words '♥ Mister D', revealing that the Magician was secretly a fan of Mr Dark, the villain of the original Rayman. Also on the wall is a diagram showing Lums being fed into a machine to produce electricity: it is revealed that the Magician has been using the Lums he collected from the heroes to power the creation of his mechanical empire, the Moody Clouds. At this moment, the Magician pulls a lever, causing the heroes to fall through a trap door, where they must fight mechanical recreations of the Carnivora and Mocking Bird bosses. Once these have been defeated, the heroes climb back to the office of the Magician, where he distracts them with a disco number (recalling the dances of the original game's bosses) before running away. The heroes must them pursue him through a storm of falling debris and broken machinery as the Moody Clouds itself begins to disintegrate. Eventually the Magician hops onboard an airship, and the heroes must pursue him on the backs of their mosquito friends. Eventually the airship crashes into the fiery core of the Moody Clouds, causing an enormous explosion. The heroes fall from the sky and land back at the Snoring Tree, where the game began. The Magician's fate is unknown.

An earlier version of the game's script was found amongst the files of the game's demo, and, while it follows the same general story, it also would have shed more light on certain aspects of the plot, and contains a large amount of dialogue that was removed from the final version of the game. In this scrapped scenario, the Magician, real name Ales Mansay, was bullied and ostracised by the other Teensies at magic school for his poor magical abilities. Although he helped Rayman to overcome Mr Dark in the original game, the Magician secretly admired the villain's dark and mysterious nature, and wanted to emulate him. He also developed a hatred for the Bubble Dreamer, whose nightmares had repeatedly overcome the Glade of Dreams and were a constant threat to its inhabitants. The Magician concocted a plan. He hid a microphone in the Snoring Tree, so that the heroes' snoring would irritate and ultimately start a war with the Livid Dead. (This microphone, disguised as a flower, can still be seen in the game itself, in both the beginning and ending sequences.) Throughout the game, the Magician pretended that he was still a friend of the heroes, allowing him to collect Lums from them in exchange for Electoons which they could use to reach new levels. The Magician used these Lums to power his mechas: gigantic machines which he was building to take over the Glade of Dreams, imposing order and eliminating the chaos of the Bubble Dreamer's nightmares. Eventually, however, the heroes reach the Magician's headquarters in the Moody Clouds and put a stop to his plans.

In the months leading up to and following the release of Rayman Origins, there was some confusion amongst fans about the identity of the villain and his relationship to Mr Dark, thanks largely to the lack of dialogue or lucid storytelling in the final version of the game. In January 2012, lead writer Gabrielle Shrager confirmed that the Magician was simply a big fan and admirer of Mr Dark, and that he was attempting to usurp Mr Dark's position.[2]

Early screenshots showed the Magician's hat presumably in a level of the game, however, this is not seen in the final product. Instead, 100 years after the events of Rayman Origins, with Rayman and friends caught in a deep sleep, the nightmares and evil monsters multiply, and the Magician has also done so into the Dark Teensies.

The Magician's dance style has been compared by some to be similar to that of Michael Jackson, though this has not been confirmed in an official capacity.

Each character type will have their own dance style when compelled to dance by the Magician in the Reveal.

He is the first good character in the whole series to become evil.

He is also the third villain (first two being Razorbeard and André) in the main series to have been the main antagonist for more than one game.

While not making a physical appearance in Rayman Adventures, the Magician is mentioned in Rabbiteen's description. It says that her long lost brother jumped into the Magician's hat, never to be seen again.